9 Oct 2023
An RCVS panel concluded Simon Wood had done “everything required” of him to secure restoration five years after he was struck off having admitted offences related to indecent images of children.
Image © sezer66 / Fotolia
A Portsmouth-based vet is to be restored to the register five years after he was struck off following a conviction for making indecent images of children.
An RCVS disciplinary panel said it was satisfied Simon Peter Wood had “done everything required of him” to show he was fit to return to practice, three years after an initial restoration bid failed.
A report published following the two-day hearing last month also described him as “thoughtful and realistic about his prospects going forward”.
Mr Wood was originally removed from the register in June 2018, five months after he was given a three-year community sentence and made the subject of a five-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) by Portsmouth Crown Court.
He had earlier pleaded guilty to three charges of making indecent images, some of which were believed to have featured children as young as three or four.
However, the report stressed there was no suggestion that Mr Wood had been involved in the original production of the images concerned, as the act of downloading an image, believing it was likely to be indecent, is deemed to be enough to commit the offence.
An initial application for restoration was rejected in 2020, even though the community order had been revoked following early completion of the required elements, because other orders including the SHPO remained active until January of this year.
The college’s own legal representative said the body was “neutral” about the latest application.
But Mr Wood’s barrister, Abbas Lakha KC, said his client had consistently demonstrated “profound remorse”, was deemed unlikely to reoffend and remained professionally competent to return to practice.
The panel was told he had completed around 200 hours of CPD during 2022 and 2023, while reports compiled by a counsellor and psychotherapist who continues to work with Mr Wood on a regular basis argued that his offending “was driven by a mental health issue rather than a moral issue”.
When questioned by the committee, Mr Wood said he accepted the diagnosis that he had been addicted to pornographic material.
However, he said he did not believe he was addicted now and the measures he had taken, together with his wider support networks, would help to prevent any recurrence.
Following the hearing, panel chairperson Kathryn Peaty said: “The committee is satisfied that Mr Wood has done everything required of him in order to be able to satisfy the committee that he is fit to be restored to the register.
“He is thoughtful and realistic about his prospects going forward. His responses to questions about addiction were appropriate and persuasive.
“He has expressed genuine remorse and there is, in the committee’s view, a public interest in allowing him to be restored to the register.”